“I got the impression that Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson is for [securing the border], but he seems to have been overruled by the White House, which is apparently decided because we know the president requested almost $4 billion to throw money at the problem,” McConnell said Monday on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.” “That isn’t going to solve it.”

Instead, McConnell suggested that in order to calm the chaotic situation that has thousands of adults and unaccompanied minors traveling from Central America and across the U.S.-Mexico border, the border needs to be secured.

“It’s very, very simple,” McConnell said. “If word got out that you’d be humanely detained and immediately returned, it would stop. It doesn’t require massive amounts of federal assistance that the president has asked for.”

Later on Monday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is scheduled to announce his plan to send 1,000 national guardsmen to the national border, which McConnell said he thinks is a “good idea” in efforts to secure the border and send a message to others wishing to immigrate to the United States illegally.

“[Obama] wants to say that this is because we didn’t pass comprehensive immigration reform last year; it has absolutely nothing to do with that,” McConnell said. “What it further illustrates is how insecure the border is, which is the reason why the American people were reluctant to support comprehensive immigration reform, because until we secure the border nothing else makes sense.”

He added, “Until the American people see us have some success with border security, I don’t think they’re going to be open to the broader question of comprehensive immigration reform.”